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Woomargama National Park, VKFF-547, 15th & 17th April 2015

Woomargama National Park is about 30 kilometres north east of Albury. The Park is the largest protected area west of the Great Dividing Range and is renowned for the largest remnant box woodlands on the South West Slopes. Parts of the reserve are near 1000 metres above sea level and the Norths Lookout, where I operated on the 15th, is one such location.

The views were stunning. The excellent Park brochure indicates that the Park provides well-marked public access trails and opportunities for off-road driving. The 3.8k track from the edge of the private pine forrest to Norths Lookout was of intermediate 4 x 4 standard, probably because of the rocky areas and drop-offs on the track. I bottomed the Patrol at one point. The track can be navigated by ‘capable off-road vehicles’. High clearance is necessary and the tracks would be slippery today (17th April 2015).

Woomargama NP track maker at 3.8k mark

My activation spot and vehicles at Norths Lookout: JCD photo

Norths Lookout

To visit the Park we stayed at the Great Aussie Holiday Park located at 14 Hore Road, Bowna. It is a great spot whether you want an unpowered tent site, a powered site or wish to live in ‘luxury’ in a cabin. There are plenty of activies for small people as well.

Access

The brochure indicates that access to the western side of the Park can be gained via Tunnel Road. That was the approach we took today for our second activation (17th April 2015). But on our first visit we left our camp and took the River Road from Wymah Road, and turned on to Tunnel Road from the Eastern end drove to the Samuel Bollard Camping area. Then we took Tin Mines Trail through the Park, then through the private pine forrest before reaching the Park boundary and taking the 3.8k 4 x 4 track to Norths Lookout. Here is the map of the Park from the Government brochure. The two approaches we took are clearly visible as is Norths Lookout.

Hi Paul
I certainly have enjoyed visiting some NSW parks. Woomargama is one of the highlights. What pleased me was that I could manage the time to concentrate on the Park and get my 44 contacts. The chances of me getting back to this Park are probably slim. I will try and get back to the two Parks on the outskirts of Sydney when next we are there and see if I can ‘fill the log’! What I regret is that I did not reach 44 in any of the Tasmanian Parks. There wasn’t the interest then from chasers. It has certainly picked up.
cheers
John D
VK5BJE

The WWFF program as you know is very popular here with ‘activators’ in VK5 and the same in VK3. But not so in the other States so much. There are 1 or 2 keen activators in VK2 & VK4 but that’s about it. Perhaps the popularity in VK5 & VK3 is off the back of the VK5 Parks award and the KRMNPA. It is popular with ‘hunters’ though from those States, so I am not quite sure how to attract more activators.

It looks like there are some amazing parks over there in NSW. Marija and I are thinking of heading over there next year for some holidays.